Investigations · Aug 19, 2026Black Americans Have Lost 90% of Their Land Since 1910 — and Three New Fights Are Happening Right Now

Nearly every week, a story breaks about Black families losing land their ancestors bought generations ago — and nearly every week, it stays local. Black Americans have lost more than 90% of the farmland they owned in 1910^[1], a loss now valued at roughly $326 billion^[1]. Right now, in 2026, three separate fights over historically Black land in Florida and Georgia are playing out at once — and outside the outlets covering them directly, almost none of it is breaking into national news.

What the Numbers Actually Show

• Black Americans owned an estimated 16 million acres of farmland in 1910^[1]; Black-operated farms peaked at 41.4 million acres by 1920^[2].
• By the 1980s, Black-owned farmland had collapsed to roughly 3 million acres^[2].
• Black-operated farm acreage has since edged back up, from 4.6 million acres in 2017 to 5.3 million acres in the 2022 Census of Agriculture^[3] — still a fraction of the 1920 peak.
• Even with that recent uptick, the number of farms with at least one Black producer fell 13% between 2017 and 2022^[4].

Eatonville, Florida: The Oldest Black Municipality in the U.S.

Eatonville, incorporated in 1887, is the first self-governing Black municipality in the country^[1]. On January 13, 2026, the Orange County School Board voted to sell the historic Hungerford property — 117 acres that once held the town’s first school for Black children — to Dr. Phillips Charities for $1 million upfront, with $13 million more forgiven if development conditions are met^[5]. The Southern Poverty Law Center, representing the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, sued the school board, alleging the sale followed secret negotiations that violated Florida’s open-meetings law^[6]. A judge has since refused to dismiss that lawsuit, and as of late July, Eatonville residents were still holding community meetings to fight for a say in what happens to the land^[7].

Sapelo Island, Georgia: A Three-Year Zoning Fight Just Ended — For Now

Hogg Hummock, the last intact Gullah-Geechee community on Sapelo Island, has spent nearly three years fighting off zoning changes that residents say would let outside developers build oversized vacation homes and price out the families who have lived there for generations^[8]. In January 2026, 85% of voters in a rare county-wide referendum chose to repeal a 2023 zoning change that had removed size limits on new construction^[8]. On August 6, 2026, McIntosh County commissioners voted 3-1 to adopt a new ordinance capping houses at 1,550 square feet with a 32-foot height limit^[9] — smaller than developers wanted, but still larger than some Hogg Hummock residents say is safe for the community’s long-term survival^[10].

Why This Stays Local

None of these fights involve a single dramatic event — no one death, no viral video. They are procedural: a school board vote, a zoning ordinance, a lawsuit working through a circuit court. That is exactly why they rarely travel beyond the local TV stations and nonprofit newsrooms covering them directly, even though the underlying pattern — Black-owned land changing hands through processes families had little power to stop — is the same one driving the $326 billion figure above. The land is still there. So, for now, are the people fighting to keep it.

References

1. Southern Poverty Law Center. (2026). Holding our ground: Black communities fight to protect their land and legacy. ↩a ↩b ↩c ↩d
2. Investigate Midwest. (2025, September 2). Number of Black-owned farms has decreased drastically since 1900. ↩a ↩b
3. USDA Economic Research Service. (2024). 2022 Census of Agriculture: Black-operated farm size continues to grow. ↩
4. Capital B News. (2026). Black farmers see a decline, yet new growers stay determined. ↩
5. Click Orlando (WKMG). (2026, January 14). Orange County School Board approves sale of historic Hungerford property to Dr. Phillips Charities. ↩
6. Southern Poverty Law Center. (2026). SPLC files lawsuit against Orange County School Board to protect historic Black municipality in Florida. ↩
7. Click Orlando (WKMG). (2026, July 25). Eatonville community meeting focuses on preserving town’s history amid Hungerford property fight. ↩
8. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (2026, January). Voters side with Gullah Geechee in Sapelo Island zoning referendum. ↩a ↩b
9. The Current GA. (2026, August 6). McIntosh adopts zoning for Sapelo’s Gullah Geechee neighborhood. ↩
10. WTOC11. (2026, August 7). Sapelo Island rezoning sparks outcry from Gullah Geechee community. ↩

Photo: Normunds Ispwich via Pexels